StarCraft Community Helps Player Get to DreamHack

Polish player Pal's plea on Reddit raises enough money in 45 minutes to send him to Bucharest.

Maciej “Pal” Matuszewski

By Ryan Smith on 10 September 2013

Maciej “Pal” Matuszewski expected he might be left out from this weekend’s Dreamhack Bucharest tournament.

But thanks to the StarCraft community, the StarCraft player from tiny Chelmno, Poland will be competing for 175,000 SEK (about $26,500) and one of four spots for the DreamHack Open Grand Finals at DreamHack Winter 2013.

Pal told Red Bull eSports that his team MaxFloPlaY wanted to send him to the tournament, but signed up too late to get entry. Then on Monday, he saw a message from Dreamhack informing of an empty spot that he was welcome to fill. But because of the late notice, the cost of flights to Bucharest had doubled.

“We didn't have enough money and I tried to ask for help around other players going but it was too late,” said Pal. “So my only chance was to ask for help in the community.”

He did so by writing a post on Reddit’s StarCraft forum asking for a bit of extra cash to help pay for the travel expenses. Polish caster Emil also took up Pal’s cause and informed his viewers about it. Between Redditors and Emil’s viewers, Pal got enough donations to cover his costs in only 45 minutes.

“I was very glad to read every comment cheering and hoping for luck to me,” said Pal. “I felt so emotional, because one day before I got the message from Dreamhack, I was already in the mindset of not going to the tournament and there was just so many great feelings going through my body with every next upvote, retweet or comment.”

Pal also told Red Bull that he thought the community’s support may help him play better at Dreamhack Bucharest.

“I always aim to do my best, but that kind of support made me feel like I can cross my limitations and play at another whole level.”